La La Land opens Venice

To great reviews. A couple of roundups of the critical responses here and here. Even before its premiere, La La Land was expected to be an Oscar contender. It was originally supposed to open this past July. They then pushed it back to December which means that already back in March they knew this would be an award season film. But that happens with many films that don’t end up delivering. Evidently, La La Land delivers.

So here’s the La La Land team, led by director Damien Chazelle and Emma Stone at the gala in Venice last night. Damien’s last film, Whiplash, went on to receive several Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, and eventually won a total of three Oscars. Right now it’s looking like he’ll be on the campaign again. And, perhaps, Emma too for Best Actress.

As for her co-star Ryan Gosling, he’s been in Budapest over the summer shooting the new Blade Runner. Eva Mendes is there, their kids are there, the dogs are there. La La Land is also screening in Toronto. Maybe he decided he’d go there instead, being Canadian? Or maybe they’ll save his promotional push for closer to when the film releases in December. It’s not like he loves doing media.